Gerhard Richter (1932-), Grey Mirror - 765, 1992

Richter’s oblique mirrors reflect the room, its surroundings, and any spectators in front of them. It does so in blurred versions, however, as the mirror’s grey pigment reproduces real-life colours in a diffuse and indefinable scale of grey. Contours and surfaces dissolve, appearing as misty reminders of something you are no longer entirely sure you recognise.

Thus, the vague reflections reach us in the same way as remote memories. Here, too, the picture can only be rendered more precise through a mental reconstruction.

The mirror's functionUsually, mirrors are called upon to reflect a clear and accurate image of reality. In Grey Mirror, however, this function is effaced. The reality reflected in these mirrors is indefinable and arbitrary, and, most of all, depends on the eyes that see. In his work – particularly within painting, where he has execute countless blurry renditions of snapshots and other photography source material – Richter consistently circles this relationship between reality and illusion, or, more accurately, the theme of reality as illusion.﻿